


White Space

by Oilux



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, a random one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 06:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oilux/pseuds/Oilux
Summary: The night after they see Oriande, Allura comforts Lotor.





	White Space

**Author's Note:**

> Season five made me a shipper and you have no idea how okay I am with that.

There was a quietness that overcame the castle at night, that allowed sleep to fall easily upon the Paladins of Voltron. Perhaps that was why Lotor found himself wandering about the castle at night, unable to sleep after the visit to Oriande. Restlessness ate away at his chest and refused to allow him to sleep, to give him the solace and comfort that he craved so badly. Still donned in his pajamas, Lotor found himself in the navigation room, staring out at the White Hole in front of the ship. It had the power to move after he and Allura returned, but they hadn’t left just yet.

“There has been a severe miscalculation,” Lotor mumbled, walking up to the glass, putting his hand on it. There was a chill that the empty galaxy had that nothing else could ever compare to. It sunk into his hand through the glass, it wrapped around his bare ankles as he stared out at the stars that were burning fire, but offered no warmth to him.

He had gone across thousands of planets, watched many die because of his actions and his decisions, all to get to this point. The White Hole stared at them in a void, exuding energy and power, like all the old stories that he had heard about centuries before. A long time ago, he had dreamed about appearing here, centuries ago when he had first seen the stories scrawled on cave walls older than he had ever hoped to be. 

Yet he was here. He stood before the White Hole and the lion and declared what he had always known, victory or death, and it had rejected him. He had been cast out like he was nothing at all, like he hadn’t done so much work and traveled through centuries all to get to that one moment, and life had cast him aside like he was nothing at all. He wasn’t worthy of the alchemical magic that Allura had grasped so easily.

He should be in bed, but the thought of returning alone, to the cold and the dark, wasn’t appealing at all. The other paladins had been less than welcoming to him at times, and he really didn’t believe that such a huge castle didn’t have a real spare bedroom, but he wouldn’t complain. This wasn’t the time for him to complain, that would come later. With time came trust, and Lotor would use that trust.

There was another feeling about his ankle, different from the feeling of the cold draft the castle had acquired. Glancing down, he found there were small little mice, the ones that followed Allura around, sitting beside him. They peered up at him as curiously as Lotor looked down at them, with unanswered questions that flowed between them easily. In that moment, Lotor felt more comfort from mice who could never speak than from anyone else in his life before.

“It’s rather late to be up, isn’t it?” A soft voice came from behind him. Lotor turned, looking at Allura in her sleeping gown, arms hanging down by her side. “But I see the mice are keeping you company.”

“They’re strange little things,” Lotor admitted, watching the mice scurry across the ground to Allura. She shuddered at the chill, coming up to stand beside her. Softly, the marks on her cheeks glowed, Lotor brought a hand to his own and wondered if they were still glowing.

“They’re very strange, on your cheeks,” Allura said, her hand rising instinctively like she wanted to touch him, but she pulled back. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. I never thought I would see a Galra with Altean marks.”

Lotor took her hand, taking a chance to bring it to his cheek so she could touch the mark. Her hand was warm, warmer than the air around them, and Lotor realized just how cold he was. He felt her fingers lightly brush underneath his eye, feeling the soft, tender flesh, before she simply rested there and cupped his cheek.

“Why are you up so late?” Allura asked softly. The light from the White Hole cast a glow about them, that made her hair sparkle and glow like an ethereal thing. 

“It’s nothing important, princess.” Lotor pulled back to look at the wreckage of the ships that had once managed to voyage out here only to die, die in a pile of flames and carnage that had killed so many people before. He pulled back to look back out the window, letting her hand fall from her face. 

“It must be important if it’s keeping you awake,” Allura said softly, looking up at Lotor. When he tried to twist away from her, she caught his arm, in the same way that he had caught her earlier.

“I do not wish to talk about it, princess,” Lotor said softly. He was vaguely happy the other paladins weren’t there, so he didn’t have to deal with them all questioning him and wondering why he was pouting. 

“You call me that when you don’t want to talk,” Allura said softly, a note to herself more to Lotor. Lotor turned his back to her, refusing to look at her as she put her hand on his shoulder. “When we’re alone you call me Allura. Why are you upset?”

“Allura, I really don’t want to talk about it.” Lotor’s words came out with more of a bite than he intended, but she wouldn’t leave him alone, and isn’t that what he wanted? To be alone to think and lament over centuries of work that was forever lost to him?

Allura didn’t speak, didn’t say anything, yet he heard no retreating steps that told him that she was retreating and leaving him alone. Carefully, he reached up and touched the glowing marks that still rested on his cheeks.

“They’re still glowing,” Allura noted softly. “The white lion will give you another chance if you wish, you can prove you are worthy of the knowledge. Maybe not at this moment, but in the future, when you have learned.”

“It’s late, princess, you should get to bed.” Lotor turned back to her, reaching over to link their arms together so that he could escort her to her room. “If one of the other paladins finds out you’ve been talking to me in the dark, they will try to have my head.”

“Oh, they can calm down and relax.” Allura flapped a hand, smiling up at him. “You showed me something today that I never thought that I would be able to see. I thought that the secrets of Altean alchemy were lost forever when Altea fell, but you gave me the chance to achieve all of that once more.” 

He took a turn, away from where he had been staying. Lotor had found out it was meant to be a supply closet, which Lotor found out after he had left it in the morning when Coran had asked why he had been hanging out in the closet. He brought her to her room, offering her a small smile. Their marks had faded, Allura’s falling back into a soft pink that they had always been, and Lotor’s skin returning to its normal purple color. 

“Here you are, Allura,” Lotor said, offering her a small smile. “I didn’t mean to wake you with my tromping about in the middle of the night. Sleep is important.”

“Says the Galra emperor who’s about to go back instead of sleeping,” Allura said, teasing lightly. She felt a yawn escape her lips, and from behind her feet, her little mice friends rushed into the bedroom where they normally slept.

“You’ve caught me.” Lotor chuckled. A silence overcame them, an awkwardness of neither of them knowing how to say goodbye, or how to even talk to each other alone. Lotor drew back first, taking a long step back so that they might have some room to breathe. Or perhaps he was the one who needed the space after all. 

“Thank you,” Allura said softly. “I really can’t say it enough. Thank you for asking for my help.” Allura took the same step forward to meet Lotor where he was, placing a delicate hand on his chest for balance as she kissed his cheek. She was so gentle and yet he had seen her take down armies easily, crushing his soldiers like they were nothing more than the pawns that they were. Yet she was so gentle with him. Like he was something worth protecting. 

“Good night, Lotor,” Allura said softly. “Try not to wake anyone else up with your brooding. You need to be well rested for when we leave.”

“I’ll do my best,” Lotor promised easily. A tightness had grown in his chest, one that didn’t ease as she disappeared into her room, but seemed to grow in size. Lotor brought a hand over where it was the strongest, gently rubbing to try to ease the feeling. It didn’t help much. 

He contemplated returning to the dock to watch the stars shift and change in time with the white hole, but decided against it. Sleep nagged at his mind, demanding to be heard and refusing to be ignored any longer. The small supply closet that acted as his bedroom was just as cold as the rest of the castle, but Lotor ignored that and crawled into his makeshift bed, pulling the covers tight around himself. The sting of being rejected from Oriande still ate away at him, but it was less prevalent than before, the harsh grit of it having faded away. Even in the dark room, his cheeks continued to glow, casting a soft pink light that told that he was still worthy, that maybe one day he could know the secrets just as Allura did. 

He fell asleep with the thoughts of battle on his mind, of moral wolves that fought inside him to decide what kind of person he would be, and sparkling blue eyes that looked at him like he might be more than what he was if only given the chance. 


End file.
